Sony's "The Interview"
 

It looks as though Sony will not be releasing The Interview.

Personally, I think that a movie, even a comedy, about the assignation of the leader of any country is in extremely poor taste and should have turned down as a studio project.

Is it right for a foreign country to hack into the studio files? Of course not.

Is this possibly a huge scheme by Sony to make this movie the biggest block buster of all time?

Was this an act of blackmail, terrorism, or marketing?

NBC News reported tonight that the FBI says that North Korea is definitely behind the hacking, so doubt that it is a marketing gimmick. A big announcement on who is behind this could come as early as tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Among other things it was an act of cowardice and abject wimpiness by Sony ... release the movie!! I want to see it. Hollywood bleats about free speech yadda except when it counts.

At the same time, it's hard to feel sympathetic for Sony given their complete hypocrisy as evidenced by their conversations about certain people in the news

However, and more importantly, the lack of a US response to North Korea is also *certain* to embolden hackers worldwide ...why not, if no consequences? Weakness, as always, is provocative.

Perhaps it's better to wait until the investigation is complete before talking about the punishment.

Sorry, but no need for an "investigation" ... this hack is obviously the work of the North Korean government and most likely instantiated by their intelligence service. Some of the code was written in Korean and similar to the hack against South Korean banks last year.

Thus, the question is not who did it but what we will, or should, do about it.

Don Quixote is alive and well !

Precisely what "response" or action should be taken on North Korea?

As is Neville Chamberlain I see ...

I agree that a screenplay about the assassination of a sitting leader of a country, no matter how inept or objectionable, should have been turned away at the door. I would probably find it amusing as I like good satire, but still I found it he entire concept to be a bit disturbing. Now, giving in to the hackers threats is also objectionable to me so I struggle with the whole situation.

Clever as that statement may (or may not) be, it does not answer precisely what response should be taken on North Korea.

I recommend the appropriate punishment would be forcing their military leaders to look at The Kardashians and Bruce Jenner.

I would be quite happy to recommend a course of action ... I have some ideas in mind and will provide them.

However, I'd first like to get a sense from other posters as to how they see this. Do you think we should take some type of retaliatory action (details tbd) or opt instead to make a few nervous jokes and ignore it?

To recap, a hostile foreign power reached into the US, essentially destroyed a US corporation, and threatened terrorist violence unless a movie critical of the Dear Leader was shelved.

Do people from all points on the spectrum essentially agree that this act cannot go unanswered?

By bullying the movie out of the theaters for the big premier by instilling fear of 911 style attacks, N. Korea has accomplished censorship in this country, by cyberterrorist attacks and fear of rattling the cage where the N. Korean leader's finger is on the nuclear weaponry button.

As always, nobody explains the real threat to our freedom of speech like Prof. Alan Dershowitz:

"If the North Korean government is in fact behind the hacking of Sony and the threats of violence directed against theaters that planned to show The Interview, then the United States has been a victim of warfare directed against our most basic right—free expression. Those who hacked and threatened violence succeeded in doing something the U.S. government could not do: namely censor a movie based on its content.

North Korea’s apparent victory over this film is but a coming attraction of things to come. If hacking and threats can shut down a poorly reviewed comedy, they can also shut down newspapers, magazines, television stations, and other media. This then was the Pearl Harbor of a war that is just beginning.

Like all wars, there were preludes. The prelude for this one came in an unlikely location: Yale University. Several years ago, the Yale University Press published a book on the controversy surrounding the cartoons of Mohammad that had appeared in several Scandinavian newspapers and provoked violent responses. Naturally, the book, as submitted, included the cartoons that were at the center of the dispute. But Yale University Press decided to censor these cartoons out of fear that their inclusion might endanger the lives of Yale students and faculty. Yale’s understandable decision set an unfortunate precedent that has now been followed by Sony and by the theaters that pressured Sony into canceling The Interview…."

Full Story:
Capitulating to Terrorists Will Only Make Things Worse -- by Alan Dershowitz
http://time.com/3640164/sony-hack-th...p-north-korea/

What happened to NOT negotiating with terrorists?
We as a country are now established as in a position of weakness. A very dangerous position to be in with the likes of NKorean savage regard for life.

If we know the source and do not retaliate insome meaningful way we as a nation in the future of cyber war are doomed.

It has been proven time and again that rhetoric or playing nice does not work with enemies whose purpose is to destroy our way of life.

we no longer have what was of comfort in the past for many years......the battles, the danger, the threats and killings of war were always somewhere else.
That comfort is gone. We are being tested here at home. A freedom has just been attacked and we yielded. The enemy sensing and or experiencing no retaliation from the strongest country on earth isONLY emboldened to go for more.

Nuclear war has been avoided all these years due to the fear of retaliation and mutual self destruction. Achieved by demonstrated capability to be able to annihilate the enemy.

We have just been attacked. What we do or do not do in response will determine future events. And we know from experience sanctions do not win the wars.

What will the emboldened enemy demand we do next....or else?

The government did not negotiate nor was the government a target. A private company was hacked. That private company made a corporate decision to not release this film. The Obama administration made no decision nor did they tell Sony what to do.

Sony likely felt that the threat of violence would keep people from going to see the movie. Some theaters had already cancelled screenings.

Should the investigation by the several governmental agencies involved unequivocally point to N Korea as the source of this cyber attack, then and only then, there will be a proportional response.

The best known cyber attack which was directed at Iran, was produced by the US and Israel to cripple Iran's nuclear program. While I agree with the goal, it is best to understand that the US cannot with a straight face claim that a cyber attack is equivalent to an act of war requiring a military response unless you feel that Iran would be justified in attacking US interests and in fact that their failure to militarily respond to our cyber attack is appeasement and shows the cowardice of their leadership. Or maybe Iran did this and is making it look like it came from North Korea.

Sony's "The Interview"
 

For the record, Sony is a Japanese company. How then do we know that the hackers' attack is directed solely at the United States?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony

from my perspective as member of we the people of the USA were threatend with intent to destroy property and lives (ala 9/11 type attack).

Negotiating is not conducted just by the government...right? A specific demand by a terrorist organization was made involving Americans (and others) in American theatres.......either meet the demands to not do something or else they would kill Americans in America. That demand was met.

From the terrorists point of view (and all others around the world) they achieved a major success.......by holding Americans hostage!

How is the government that is sworn to protect it's citizens not involved?

I think assigning a moral equivalence to the two cyber attacks is a mistake. To put it in perspective, the US/Israeli cyber attack was attempting to take out Iran's nuclear program or at least set it back. NK's attack was to intimidate a US studio from releasing a film critical of the Dear Leader.

I also think that one has realize that, whether we like it or not, we do live in a world of both good and evil. I think Iran and NK line up as what most people would call evil regimes ... off the charts actually (esp NK), thus my belief is we engage to win, and use our power to intimidate where possible the evil actors from doing ... what one of them just did.

It is possible Iran, or China and Russia are involved with the NK hack attack. We will have to deal with it if that's the case, and I will list some options /ideas in another post.

In the meantime, and while with caveats, it sounds as if you too agree that we as a nation can not let the NK attack go unanswered ... am I assessing this correctly?

Personally, I do not think most Americans would believe a hack attack on a movie studio is reason for engaging in a shooting war. Since the US has no trading agreements with N Korea or gives them foreign aid, I do not see any sanctions being imposed.

What responses do you all think are the best?

How do we respond to the Sony hack and the intrusion by NK into our county, coupled with a domestic terror threat? In other words, what do we do?

My starting point is if we ignore it, or just make jokes or laugh nervously while doing nothing, that is very dangerous and will predictably invite more attacks of this type. Weakness is provocative, and always has been over the millennia when confronting evil.

Currently, NK is the most likely culprit, although it’s possible they could have been aided by Iran, China or Russia. It doesn’t really matter … in the world’s perception, NK is viewed to have told US citizens (in effect) I don’t want you to see this movie and, if need be, I‘ll blow up the movie houses to keep you out.

All four of those countries have an advanced cyber warfare capability as do we. At the same time, it’s not smart to get embroiled in a cyber-war as there’s no telling where it would lead, such as shutting down the American electric grid as one example.

Thus, we need a non-military solution to start with, and which addresses the issue head on.

My recommendation …

The President takes a forward leaning leadership role, and addresses the nation telling us and the world that this will not stand. I.e. we will not allow any foreign entity, NK or whoever, to impinge on our 1st amendment rights, nor allow terror threats to intimidate us etc. Among other things, he should encourage Sony to release, and the theater chains to show the movie. He should also tell the nation he will make it a point to go see “The Interview”, and encourage all Americans to go see it too as a protest. Lead by example.

He should then work with the Congress and they should immediately pass some type of insurance indemnity bill that in effect, removes the legal risk from the theater owners or Sony in the event that someone does attempt an attack on a movie theater. (Unlikely but possible)

Thus, the movie should do well, many would see it and the NK objective will fail.

This must also be coupled with a credible threat from the President in consultation with Congress, that should someone attack an American movie theater that we will consider it an act of war, and engage whoever did it militarily with whatever force we need. (The threat needs to be credible).

We also need to deal with the cyber-attack on Sony … not that I have any great love for that company, but that can be done behind the scenes with our intelligence services and military doing their thing.

NK’s threat was a terrorist attack and unless Sony changes its position, NK won. Not only did NK win, but more importantly “we the people” were just defeated, not only with NK but with the rest of the world. If Sony does not acquiesce and show the film and if our government does not take steps to protect its people we have just been brought to our knees. The white flag of surrender is waving.

President Obama will be holding his final news conference of the year at 1:30pm today, before flying off to his Christmas vacation in Hawaii.

The Sony hack will probably be one of the first topics addressed, along with opening up trade with Cuba.

Tune in to your favorite network to watch the speech live.

"We the people" were defeated because we cannot see a movie that probably would have been a loser? Sony is to blame for deciding to make the movie which is in extremely bad taste - for making a movie about the killing of a sitting leader of a country. They deserve a huge monetary loss for that decision.

What steps should the government take to "protect us" from this? Would you volunteer your grandchild or child to go into a shooting war over your "1st amendment rights" to see a movie?

Tens of thousands have already died to assure us of our freedoms. Our country was formed so that we could have freedom. At what point do you decide, "well, I guess it's not worth it"?

See TexaninVA in the post immediately prior to my initial post.

If Prof. Aan Dershowitz calls this the "Pearl Harbor" of NK's attack on our freedom of speech, then I do too.

North Korea’s apparent victory over this film is but a coming attraction of things to come. If hacking and threats can shut down a poorly reviewed comedy, they can also shut down newspapers, magazines, television stations, and other media. This then was the Pearl Harbor of a war that is just beginning.

Like all wars, there were preludes. The prelude for this one came in an unlikely location: Yale University. Several years ago, the Yale University Press published a book on the controversy surrounding the cartoons of Mohammad that had appeared in several Scandinavian newspapers and provoked violent responses….."

SEE the rest of Dershowitz's column linked.

Full Story:
Capitulating to Terrorists Will Only Make Things Worse -- by Alan Dershowitz
Sony Hack: Capitulating to Terrorists, Censorship Makes Things Worse


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You are missing the point. It could have been a documentary, a newspaper article, a news report. They threatened us and we caved. Amen. And I believe you are the only one even mentioning a "shooting" war except in one post that mentions it in response to a physical attack on the homeland.

The issue is that there was a terrorist hack and a demand made and a threat to destroy American property and lives. That is the issue.

Some can diss about the movie and anything else that one wants to entertain
but when all gets said and done a freedom was assaulted by a terrorist regime.

I suppose our techies could go in and do something that would create some havoc in the NK system...the have so little of anything except military....but I am sure there is something our cyber jocks could do to let them know not to mess with us. But that might upset or antagonize or irritate someone so we will probably do nothing or do shame shame....

To another post above....I haven't seen where anybody has suggested any military action.

Just hack em back and make it huret!!!!!

TexaninVa mentions a military response in his very well written post.

Tasteless comedies are made into movies all of the time, including ones about our own government and the presidency. We Americans seem to enjoy treading on other's toes in order to get a rise out of them.

Here is a list of movies about the American Presidency. Not all are in good taste, but it depends on whose taste. What is wrong here, is that a threat has been made against the American people by a foreign power.. That is the issue. Not the taste or the subject matter or the right or the wrong of the plot. We can show we are not pleased officially, or act like it never happened.I have to believe that our not visible security forces are on it. If there is an indication that someone would harm our innocent movie goers, you would have to bet that our precious soldiers would respond. OR...our precious drones.

10 American President Movies

The bottom line is this was a corporate decision, to protect their employees and customers from a threat they perceived. I'm sick and tired of people constantly blaming every wrong decision made on this president. Just open your ears and minds and stop listening to faux news long enough to get the truth. I can't believe someone actually wants to start a war over this crap! Go ahead lead the charge, I'm right behind you!

We in this case was Sony.

You must have missed the press conference which I watched from start to finish on FOX news. The POTUS said Sony should not have caved; however he wouldn't have had to pay the lawsuits if they blew up a movie theater. And he said we would respond so you might want to contact him to help with the charge. He also said he wishes SONY had contacted him before they made this decision so it really does impact the country more than you want to believe. This was done to our country via SONY.

Here's a recap of the news conference:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/bara...-movie-n271786

If anyone looks back over the events of this past week, they would realize it was the four major theater chain owners who decided they would not show the movie therefore forcing Sony to cancel the opening. If there is no distribution, there can be no screenings. It was the theater owners who forced Sony's hand, and it would have been the theaters who would be paying the lawsuits had something bad happened.

Sounds like you are thus placing yourself squarely in the camp of no big deal and therefore we as a nation should do .... absolutely nothing about the NK intrusion and threat

See no evil, hear no evil etc

Let's see what we won't see this Christmas:

http://youtu.be/DkJA1rb8Nxo

I would agree that the theatre chains were cowed entirely and courage was completely lacking ...but now is the time also for Sony to correct their mistake and declare openly that they will find a way to release the film

No the bottom line is that a foreign power threatened to harm the people who chose to see a movie in our cities in this country.

I am sick and tired of blaming corporations and large businesses for everything wrong. Open your eyes and take a simple course in economics. We are strong because of our vibrant business community but any tax break given to them some of you act like it is treason. They employ millions of us and it isn't an easy job being the head of a large company, making decisions to keep the business running in the black. They get big bucks because their job warrants big bucks. I am sick of people who don't get the big picture and choose not to see how things work and I am sick of their class envy. People are paid for doing jobs that are hard and heavy and stressful and that potentially make money for the company and feed the people who work for it.

If we criticize the president on this forum, we are not alone. His approval rating is very low. But to be fair, no human seems to be able to please the fickle public and at the end of their terms in office, it seems all Presidents fall from grace.

You must remember that the majority of people who live in The Villages are traditional or moderate in their views. We represent a pretty pure segment of solvent, law abiding older people who are good old fashioned moral people.

In December, 1941, I imagine some argued "well, technically speaking, Hawaii is not really part of the United States ...."

Nice segue. Went from Sony Corporation (Japan) to Hawaii (U.S. territory). It's amazing Hollywood was able to release Tora! Tora! Tora!.

Let me see if I have this right. You agree that the US was directly involved with a cyber attack against an Iranian government project, a top secret Iranian government project. But because we are the good guys and they are the bad guys, Iran deserved it and should just not respond, or perhaps they should respond by bending to our will. NK attacks a Japanese company with a US division and you belief this is a more serious issue requiring a significant governmental response? Now we know China hacks into our corporations stealing their work, and likely lots of other nations are targets of the Chinese. These are much more important thefts than a movie and releasing embarrassing emails. Yet we continue to talk with China, trade with China, expect China to buy our bonds. We certainly have options with China, cut off trade, block their financial institutions from interacting with ours, prohibit US tourism, bomb bomb bombs away. Instead we have expressed our outrage, told our companies to strengthen their defenses, and likely increased our own cyber espionage.

http://csis.org/files/publication/14...Since_2006.pdf

So given the serious intrusions into our government's and our infrastructure's computers so often in the past and that we certainly are doing the same, I am not really outraged enough by Sony being targeted by either N Korea or someone else with N Korea's blessing to start a shooting war. I am more surprised by Americans being so afraid that Sony actually took these threats seriously and shut down the film. Maybe it was so bad that this saved them money on a looser.

As soon as air traffic opened after 911, Mrs. Blueash and I got on a jet and flew to Europe despite all the dire warnings of friends and the bloviators. Sometimes the way to deal with a bully is to just carry on and don't give him the satisfaction of seeing you react. How do you propose we

"intimidate the evil actors"

and are you certain they are rational enough to not retaliate to our intimidation with a major escalation.